Where my dogs at? Hip Hop sales are in decline, if you look at whole album charts like the Billboard Top 40. However, Glenn Coolfer did some digging and a little bit of number crunching after realizing the Top 40 was becoming devoid of Hip Hop artists and he found it wasn't all bad news.. just, well, different.Coolfer writes, "For proof of the genre's current lack of staying power, one can look at the length of time a hip hop album stays in the Top 40. In 2006, there are no long-lasting hits at the top of the chart. Each album is a flavor of the less-than-a-month. How many hip hop albums are in the Top 40? Five. How many have been there for more than three weeks? One (Ludacris). A hip hop album makes a big splash in its first week, drops around 60% in the second week, and fades out of the mainstream's attention."
Don't fret though, Coolfer says it's all part of a bigger shift in the industry towards single unit sales, digital downloads, and an exploding ringtone market. If you're looking for some urban beats on the chart, take a look at the Hot 100 Singles list where you'll find Ludacris, Akon, Diddy, Lil Scrappy and more have a bit more staying power. The same can be said for the Hot Digital Tracks chart as well and, Coolfer says Bubba Sparxxx's new single, although not doing so hot otherwise, is lighting up the ringtone charts.. peaking at #1 and managing to hold on to #34 currently, despite really lousy album sales.
[via Coolfer]
1. Exactly. It's not necessarily bad news. It's a shift toward other formats. The bad news for labels is that an album makes more money than a single or ringtone. But with hip hop, labels know this. With rock and pop, they're clinging to the album.
Posted at 12:29AM on Nov 16th 2006 by Glenn